


Storge

by JJGrace42



Series: Scrapbook of a Dimension-Traveling Sideshow [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 17:50:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11257872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJGrace42/pseuds/JJGrace42
Summary: Because what father doesn't want his children to be happy? And what father doesn't suffer when he realizes his daughter is broken?





	Storge

**Author's Note:**

> Author Note: A guest reviewer (on FF.net) suggested the idea of writing a piece about Kushina or Minato being alive to help Mirai during her nightmare. I liked that idea, so I took it, ran with it, and it turned into this. There might be a couple other AUs similar to this (what if Kushina and/or Minato survived) in different situations/parts of the storyline/ways.  
> And I do realize that Mirai is acting a bit differently here. If Minato and/or Kushina had survived, Mirai would be different. In the main storyline, she’s taken control. She’s the one in charge, the big sibling, the leader of the family. But if they still have parents, she wouldn’t be able to take that position. Keep in mind that she was a stubborn sixteen-year-old when she died, and so being relegated to the position of a child with someone else trying to take the place of her (original) parents wouldn’t necessarily sit easy with her. Hence, a different kind of Mirai.  
> Don’t forget to read and review!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Not mine, not mine, Mirai’s mine.

“Touchan?”

There was something wrong with the way she said the word, as if she thought it was fragile and would break on her tongue. The warble in her voice squeezed around his heart, pounding it violently against his ribs. He curled his fingers into a fist and shoved himself up. It took a moment for him to drag the lethargy from across his eyes and focus. “Mirai-chan,” he slurred, voice tired with sleep. “What is it?”

She said nothing, her tiny figure silhouetted by the dark hallway. Her small hand was still raised, pressed against the wood door. Her other hand flinched, tapping nervously against her thigh.

Minato pulled himself up fully and turned, his feet hitting the cold floor. “Come here, sweetheart,” he murmured. He held out his hand to her and waited. Naruto would have run to him, like he had so many times before, and he would have scooped his son up into his arms and hugged him tightly. But Mirai was not her brother. She was slow and methodical and all too often she looked like she had seen ghosts. So he waited, giving her the time and patience he knew she needed.

Her hand dropped from the door, twitching nervously against her side. She took a step forward. The floor creaked beneath her feet and a tremor ran up her body as she froze in place. Her jaw clenched tightly and she shuffled her feet as she moved, reducing the chances of upsetting more loud floorboards. She paused in front of the bed and peered up at him with violet eyes—Kushina’s eyes.

“Touchan?” she asked again. There was a definite crack in her voice this time and something like fear played in her gaze. “I had a nightmare.” She spoke those words with an odd twist of the tongue, almost as if she didn’t quite believe herself. “Can I sleep with you?” Her tiny hand slid against his and she curled her fingers around his thumb. She was shaking.

“Of course, Mirai-chan.” He moved backwards, leaning up against the headboard and holding her hand tight. She scrambled up onto the bed next to him. “Do you want to tell me about your nightmare?”

“No.”

The word was short and clipped and dry. No inflection, no shift in tone. Just an answer. She shifted forward and pulled her hand from his.

“Touchan?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Can I hug you?”

He had heard once about how words could break a person’s heart. Maybe it was Jiraiya-sensei who had said it to him; he certainly wouldn’t put it past the man to say something that profound. But it wasn’t until he heard his own daughter whisper those words like her life depended on it that he realized that it was true. Because he felt his blood cool as his heart stopped beating. “You don’t need to ask me that. Of course you can. You don’t need to ask.”

Mirai nodded curtly, her hand spasming against her thigh again. Then she threw herself forward and he felt her arms tighten around his neck as she tucked her head against his shoulder. He could hear the way her breaths trembled and caught in her throat. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and all he could think of was that this was his baby girl. And he could smell the fear on her.

“Why do you think people die, Touchan?”

The words hushed against his ear and he swallowed thickly, hoping she couldn’t hear it. “Why? That’s . . . just the way things are, sweetheart. It’s the natural order of things. Things are born, they live, and then they die. The world wouldn’t work otherwise.” A pause. “Why do you ask?”

She settled in his lap and her weight dragged on his neck. She didn’t loosen her grip. He ran his fingers through her loose hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, giving her time to answer. But she didn’t. “I don’t want Naruto to die,” she rasped. “I don’t want him to die before me.”

And there it was again, the way his heart ceased working and there was ice in his system, freezing across his lungs. He felt his voice raise in shock. “Mirai-chan—“

She flinched.

Minato snapped his mouth shut and took a deep breath. “Gomen. Why do you say that?”

A shaky breath. He could hear her fast heartbeat over the deafening silence. “Do you ever get scared?”

He’d never really noticed before how she never seemed to address his questions. It couldn’t have always been like that, he was sure. But he couldn’t think back to a time when she’d actually given him an answer. “Everyone gets scared, sometimes.”

“What if you’re scared all the time?”

“Are you scared all the time, sweetheart?”

“I don’t think it’s normal to be scared all the time. Do you?” Her arms finally loosened and she leaned back to look at him. Her eyes were like stone.

“I’m . . . not sure. It doesn’t sound like a very nice way to live.”

She tilted her head to the side and then pulled her arms back, curling them to her chest. Mirai twisted so that she was leaning against him. “It’s not,” she murmured. “It’s not very nice at all.”

Minato looked down at her. She’d closed her eyes and her lips had pressed together in a thin line. He drew his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, sweetheart,” he murmured.

“I think I love you too, Touchan.”


End file.
